Rob Marshall, who has directed both Chicago and Into The Woods, has been tasked with directing the movie, which is not technically a reboot, seeing as it takes place 20 years after the original movie. The sequel will be released on December 21st next year.

Speaking about the movie, Marshall said: “I am truly humbled and honoured to be asked by Disney to bring P.L. Travers’ further adventures to the screen. The iconic original film means so much to me personally, and I look forward to creating an original movie musical that can bring Mary Poppins, and her message that childlike wonder can be found in even the most challenging of times, to a whole new generation."

Marc Shaiman, who has scored and written songs for the soundtracks for the likes of Hairspray and Sister Act, will pen the score, working with Scott Wittman to write a series of original songs.

The original movie starred Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the story of a nanny who comes to work for a banker’s unhappy family in pre-World War I England and succeeds in bringing them back together with her own unique style of nannying.

The new film will be set in Depression-era London and will follow where a now grown-up Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael's three children, are visited by their former nanny following a tragedy in the family that leaves them numb and joyless. Miranda will play the role of Jack the lamplighter, a character newly created for the sequel.